Founded in October 2016 by Gaissiri Dia, a young French-Senegalese based in Dakar, Waalam Invest is a crowdfunding platform that allows African entrepreneurs to present their projects in order to raise funds. The specificity of Waalam is a crowdfunding platform based on the royalties system.
Introduce yourself and your journey (briefly)
My name is Gaissiri Dia, young Franco-Senegalese, I am the CEO of Waalam Invest. After studying finance in London and Paris, and experience in financial markets as a trader I decided to leave my post to return to Senegal to participate in the development of Africa through my crowdfunding platform named ” Waalam Invest “.
What is your project and its mission?
WAALAM INVEST is a crowdfunding platform that allows ambitious and creative African entrepreneurs to present their projects in order to raise funds with the main aim of developing their business by creating wealth and jobs in the African territory. At the same time, the platform allows investors in Africa and the diaspora to make sense of their savings by investing in its high-potential African companies. At Waalam, the general public invested from 75 euros in exchange they benefit from a percentage of turnover returned every 3 months for 5 years. Waalam’s mission is to bridge the traditional financing gap such as banks through crowdfunding.
How did you get the idea to start your business?
The idea came first of all from the fact that in Africa our entrepreneurs really lack funding, they face major difficulties in ensuring their development. They are also affected by another problem, the lack of viable and concrete project to satisfy potential investors. In addition to access to finance, these entrepreneurs need support to ensure their development peren because they patient of several weaknesses often structural.
It is in view of all these shortcomings that I created Waalam Invest in October 2016.
Can you introduce your team?
My team consists of:
Baba Pouye Faye, Financial and Administrative Director .Baba is a young Senegalese who has obtained his master’s degree in financial management at the University of Lorraine (France), his job is to control and analyze projects entrepreneurs. He also participates in the training of project managers and offers them solutions for their financing needs. As for his professional career, he worked mostly with multinational companies in France.
Fatou Sene, Entrepreneurs and Investors Manager. Fatou is a young Senegalese with a Master 2 in economic management option bank finance. She has experience in supporting startups and SMEs and also in the areas of banking and insurance.
Etienne N’guessan, Business Developer. Etienne is a young Ivorian with a master’s degree in management and accounting from INTEC Paris and several certificates in commerce. He was trained at UNIVERSITY OF NORTHWEST to start and start businesses.
Ibrahima Niang, responsible for the development and security of the platform. Ibrahima is a young Senegalese, holding a master 2 in computer science. It manages all the activities and technical resources of the company.
Désiré Nioulé, Digital Communications Officer. Désiré is a young Ivorian with a Master’s degree in management science option strategy and marketing. He has experience in the fields of digital marketing and marketing project management.
What is the problem solved by Waalam?
First, we help African SMEs to make their projects viable and attractive for investors, then we facilitate access to finance through our crowdfunding platform. After the fundraising, we accompany these companies for 5 years in the day-to-day management of their activities to ensure their sustainability.
What are the next steps ?
We want to develop Waalam in French-speaking Africa.
What do you need and how can AfrikaTech help you?
With Afrika Teck, we want to have a partnership that will allow us to first promote Africa through our different platforms. We also want to increase our visibility with investors.
What are the contacts of the company?
Website: www.waalaminvest.com
Email: contact@waalam.com
Contact: +221338257495
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/waalamfunding
Twitter https://twitter.com/WAALAM_
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/waalam
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